In a historic decision, Pakistan President Asif Zardari has decided to formally recognise his 31-year-old daughter Aseefa Bhutto as the First Lady of the country, according to a media report.
Bhutto's planned long march, which will traverse a distance of nearly 300 km, is expected to be the PPP's largest show of strength since her homecoming rally in Karachi on October 18 that was marred by a suicide attack, which killed nearly 140 people and injured hundreds more.
With a new book on Benazir Bhutto getting embroiled in a controversy, its publisher on Tuesday regretted that some "personal" elements of the late Pakistani leader got into it and expressed readiness to make amends.
A new biography of Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan pooh-poohs suggestions that he was romantically involved with slain former premier Benazir Bhutto. "One of my cousins was interested in her (Bhutto) and she also took an interest when I introduced them to each other. At one point, marriage was virtually on the cards," Khan told Frank Huzur, his Indian biographer. Khan, who now heads Pakistan's Tehrik-e-Insaaf party, described Bhutto as a "personal friend".
Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has said she is mulling a virtual campaign for Pakistan's upcoming general election that will use phone messages and taped speeches to avoid violent attacks like the suicide bombing of her homecoming rally in Karachi last week.
Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has asked the Pakistan government to seek foreign help in probing last week's bomb blasts in Karachi that killed at least 165 people. Moreover, Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party has alleged that there was a deliberate act of sabotage to facilitate the attack.
Brig Ejaz Shah has been strongly criticised by Benazir and her supporters for the security failure and they have demanded his removal and arrest. When he was in the ISI, he used to be the handling officer of Osama bin Laden and Mulla Omar
What Benazir Bhutto told the Council for Foreign Relations in New York before her return to Pakistan.
Television footage showed torn limbs and parts of flesh were spread around the Liaqat Bagh park, the venue of the rally by the former prime minister and the leader of the Pakistan People's Party.
The Pakistan government will take action against Pervez Musharraf after concrete evidence is obtained against him, after a United Nations panel blamed the former military dictator for failing to provide effective security to slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto. "We welcome the UN (commission's) report because it is independent and transparent. The people already knew what the commission has pointed out," said Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
Fatima Bhutto, the outspoken niece of slain former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto, was in Mumbai recently to launch her book Songs of Blood and Sword: A Daughter's Memoir. The life and times of the Bhuttos is seen afresh in a passionately partisan but well-constructed memoir, says acclaimed-writer William Dalrymple about Fatima's book. He reviews it in context.
The court order came after Musharraf and the three other persons did not file representations in the court despite repeated notices issued to them. During the last hearing, the court had also warned that it would go ahead with ex-parte proceedings against three more persons named in Aslam's petition
In his book, Christopher Sandford writes that Bhutto became infatuated with Khan, and the pair enjoyed a "close" and possibly "sexual" relationship. The author has also alleged that Khan''s mother even tried to organise an arranged marriage between the pair, but to no avail.
The Scotland Yard team, probing the assassination of former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto, is facing difficulties and demanded the slain leader's post-mortem.
Sources said it was a private luncheon.
There was an unanimous endorsement of his decision to impose emergency, suspend the Constitution and sack Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhury. However, the majority of the commanders expressed their reservations over the wisdom of his attempts, under US pressure, to reach a power-sharing agreement with Benazir Bhutto.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has no plans to visit slain former premier Benazir Bhutto's ancestral village to offer condolence to her family, but her party has said he would not be welcome even if he were to come.
A Swiss investigation officer gave a six-month suspended sentence and fined each US $50,000 after a five-year inquiry into a corruption case.
Bhutto's true Achilles heel was the military. A third time premiership would not have altered the equation. The military is so deeply entrenched in the country's economic and political life that no democratic entity in the country can survive a challenge from it. On both occasions in the past Benazir had been evicted from the prime minister's office by the machinations of the military.
Slain Pakistan People's Party leader Benazir Bhutto was given an assurance by the "highest authorities" in Pakistan and the US that she would be the next Prime Minister after the 2008 general elections, according to a media report on Wednesday.
The formulation calls for Musharraf to install Bhutto as prime minister while he remains president.
Slain former premier Benazir Bhutto's daughter Bakhtawar has said she wants to serve the people of Pakistan like her mother but was not sure if she wanted to join politics. eventeen-year-old Bakhtawar, who is at school in Dubai, said those who killed her mother feared her mission. She pledged to continue the mission of her mother, who was assassinated in December last year.
Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who was seen shaking a leg at a New York restaurant, has reportedly described a UN panel's findings holding him responsible for former premier Benazir Bhutto's assassination as a "bunch of lies".
Bhutto has said that if she comes to power, she will take firm steps against terrorist organisations.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon underlined today that the world body is not going to investigate the murder of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, but is considering only to appoint a fact-finding commission.
Asif Ali Zardari was overwhelmingly elected as the 14th President of Pakistan on Saturday, becoming the only civilian President of the coup-prone country for a second time.
"Dr Khan could not have done this on his own. There are certainly other people involved," she said.
"Democracy cannot be sustained in the absence of a stable and growing middle class. The growth of India into a regional and international economic power occurred, not coincidentally, as its middle class exploded into a huge economic and political force," Bhutto wrote.
In perhaps what can be called as her last interview, slain former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto wept, talked about her father's parting advice and expressed fears that terrorists were trying to kill her.
The first on the list is Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, a Bengali politician from then East Pakistan who served as the fifth prime minister. He was arrested in January 1962 and put in jail on bogus charges of "anti-state activities". His actual crime was his refusal to support military ruler General Ayub Khan.
'Outrage will take place sooner than later, because it's not only that their mandate has been stolen, but the most important issue right now is the sinking economy in Pakistan.' 'Inflation is 26%-27%. It is backbreaking inflation.' 'Food, energy, education, health, which are the primary things that every family requires, is going beyond the reach of the masses.'
Bilawal has said the reality is that his party does not have a mandate to form a federal government.
In a surprise development, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on Tuesday nominated its president Shehbaz Sharif as the prime ministerial candidate of Pakistan instead of the party supremo and three-time former premier Nawaz Sharif.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf asserted May 11 that former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif would not be allowed to return from exile.
Imran Khan, who underwent surgery for bullet injuries, has been discharged from hospital.
The Freelancer has been made with workman-like efficiency, but the subject of Islamic terrorism could do with a break, points out Deepa Gahlot.
Last year, Maryam Nawaz accompanied her father to Washington, but played a role beyond being the dutiful daughter. She was 'discovered' by the White House, and was hosted by Michelle Obama.
After his failed misadventure in Kargil, Musharraf deposed the then Prime Minister Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999 and ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008 in various positions.
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